May the person reading this blog be refreshed and restored.  May every chain holding them from being exactly who they were called to be, be broken.  May they know true freedom.

And so it is.

Welcome to the Living Beyond Our Dreams Blog - your new go-to source for all things inspiration and motivation!

In February 2020, weeks before all of our lives as we knew were forever changed, I was honored to give the keynote address at my alma matter, DePaul College of Law’s Black Law Student Association Black History Month Celebration. 

I was barely two years out of law school and in my eyes hadn’t accomplished much.  While honored by the request, I doubted that I had much to offer as a keynote speaker.  

Truthfully, I was never comfortable giving the “here’s how you navigate Big Law as a Black woman advice.”  I always felt like I was leading my people like sheep to be slaughtered (dramatic, I know….but not really). 

I knew how unsafe and inadequate I felt in that structure, and never felt right leading my people to a place I knew intimately we were not welcomed.

So instead of giving toxic advice about all the clever ways to work ten times harder than everyone else, I shared what was true to me. 

I shared, for the first time publicly during that address, my testimony.  I shared how being raised by my Mamma who battled an addiction shaped my life and the lessons I learned from her deliverance. 

I had no idea then that God would make your girl stand on it!  He would force me to live what I said in that speech: to define myself by His Word and to create my own atmosphere everywhere that I go, never compromising on His perfect creation. 

I believe that it is in this space freedom exists and that it is on us to spend our lives fighting for it.

I have included rough audio of me rehearsing for that speech.  It’s a little rough and choppy, and still filled with a bunch of “umms” but you’ll get the gist! 

I hope, just as I did in 2020 when I presented this speech in its final form, that someone may be encouraged and even inspired by my transparency.

This is, in essence, what the Living Beyond Our Dreams Blog is all about!  I intend for this Blog to be a safe space for me to journey through my fight for freedom, purpose, faith, and healing.

This will look like giving and receiving encouragement in various forms to and from those inspired to embrace this walk and sharing tools, resources and disciplines that help facilitate my process.

I have chosen obedience, which means that this Blog must and will be Spirit led.  I will not be a slave to any algorithms so if you find yourself here, know that it was purposed.

Freely,

Latiera